--- title: Polar Bear is Freed After Being Trapped in Fishnet description: The bear was freed thanks to the local community and some quick thinking scientists. canonical: https://time.com/4024005/polar-bear-trapped-fishnet/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-06T18:57:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:43:37.345Z article:section: Science og:title: Polar Bear is Freed After Being Trapped in Fishnet og:description: The bear was released shortly after being sedated. og:url: https://time.com/4024005/polar-bear-trapped-fishnet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Polar Bear is Freed After Being Trapped in Fishnet twitter:description: The bear was released shortly after being sedated. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Biologists and Alaskan Locals Free Polar Bear Trapped By Fishnet > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 6, 2015 6:57 PM UTC  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 6, 2015 6:57 PM UTC A harrowing few hours for a polar bear trapped in a fishing net had a happy ending when biologists and locals teamed up to free the bear. The polar bear, a 1,000 pound male, was found ensnared in the net off an island in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. Biologists from the U.S. Geological Society and U.S. Fish and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart from a helicopter. Locals from nearby Kaktovik joined the effort, using boats to buoy the bear, preventing him from drowning as the tranquilizers took effect. Biologists then worked quickly to untangle the bear. After insuring the bear had suffered no injuries, he was released to the wild. The USGS documented the incident on Facebook. Polar bears are endangered, and climate change has affected the habitats of polar bears, to the USGS, which has recently established a [Polar Bear Recovery Team](http://www.fws.gov/alaska/pbrt/) to them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4024005/polar-bear-trapped-fishnet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4024005/polar-bear-trapped-fishnet/"},"headline":"Biologists and Alaskan Locals Free Polar Bear Trapped By Fishnet","datePublished":"2015-09-06T18:57:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:43:37.345Z","description":"The polar bear had become tangled in fishnet","url":"https://time.com/4024005/polar-bear-trapped-fishnet/","keywords":["animals","Alaska","Environment","climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4024005/polar-bear-trapped-fishnet/","name":"Biologists and Alaskan Locals Free Polar Bear Trapped By Fishnet"}}]}] ```